After Mpondo’s mother passed away, his father remarried and moved to a nearby farm to live with his new wife. He left Mpondo the RDP house that he owned, and Mpondo moved in there with his family. They’d been living there for a while when sadly, Mpondo’s father passed away as well. His stepmother is now demanding that they be evicted from the RDP house because she wants to sell it. She claims she has the right to do so since she was legally married to their father. Do they have any legal recourse?

Scorpion Legal Protection’s advice
To answer this question, we need to understand what an RDP house is legally, and what the implications are when the owner is deceased. We must also understand the process of eviction and how it works.

An RDP house is granted in terms of a subsidy approved by the Human Settlements Department. The applicant (Mpondo’s father) must nominate dependants on the application. If the applicant dies without having a title deed, then the dependant or legally registered spouse must provide the Housing Department with the deceased’s death certificate and the letters of authority/letters of executorships obtained from the Master of the High Court. The Housing Department will then hold a meeting between the interested parties and allocate the subsidy to one of the parties. In most cases, it will go to the legally registered spouse. In the case where there is a title deed, the property must be transferred either in terms of the laws of intestate succession or the law of testate succession – it depends on whether the deceased left behind a will. The normal conveyancing process will follow this.

So Mpondo must find out if there is a title deed, and if his father left behind a will. This will determine who the RDP house goes to.

With regard to his father’s wife trying to force them out of the RDP house, eviction takes place in terms of The Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (the PIE Act). The Act states that no person may be evicted without a court order, and the person evicting must be the lawful owner of the property. Unless Mpondo’s father’s wife has a court order, she may not legally do anything to force them out of the house.

Tips:

• Having a will is very important, especially if you have assets like a house to leave behind. Without one, matters can become complicated, and the legal proceedings can be drawn out over time. Scorpion can draw up a free basic will for members.
• The legal rule is no court order, no eviction. No one can force you out of your house without having obtained the written permission of the court first, and even then it will be a sheriff of the court who is responsible for dealing with things.

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* Terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions apply (click here to view the Legal Membership Agreement). This is only basic advice and cannot be relied on solely. Names have been changed to protect identity.